Iconic ensemble Canadian Brass literally “takes flight” with this new album. Of the seventy-some CDs and eleven DVDs they have recorded so far, this is the first they have made with their new custom-made 24-karat gold-plated instruments built by Conn-Selmer, Inc., the leading U.S. manufacturer of band and orchestral instruments.

Since they came together in the early seventies to form a brass quintet, it has been a successful and exciting road, with extensive worldwide appearances and recognition.

This CD is stamped with stunning musicianship, virtuosity, eclecticism, and most of all, fun. It includes ringing arrangements of musical warhorses by Rimsky-Korsakov (Flight of the Bumblebee), J.S. Bach’s Fugues in G and D Minor, Mozart’s Turkish Rondo, J. Brahms’ Chorale Prelude No 10, but also vibrant renditions of more actual music such as tango (G. M. Rodríguez’ La cumparsita, S. Kompánek’s Killer Tango), religious pieces (Saints’ Hallelujah and Just a Closer Walk With Thee), or a spirited version of a Dixieland jazz standard, Tuba Tiger Rag. If anything, maybe this group ought to explore a less hackneyed repertoire.